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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25026991">Some Day We'll Meet Again In the Same Place</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/maelstromdeparture/pseuds/maelstromdeparture'>maelstromdeparture</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>On The Waves [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Beach, Alternate Universe - Surfers, Aquariums, Brothers, Dancer Lee Minho | Lee Know, Escapism, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Mentioned Bangtan Boys | BTS Ensemble, Mentioned GOT7 Ensemble, Mentioned NCT Ensemble, Mentioned TOMORROW X TOGETHER Ensemble, Model Minho, Past Abuse, Photographer jisung, Surfer Chan, Surfer Felix, finding yourself i guess, i'm kind of surprised that's a tag lol, mentioned - Freeform, or something like that really</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:48:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,176</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25026991</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/maelstromdeparture/pseuds/maelstromdeparture</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jisung and Felix have known each other since they were kids. They've been online friends for more than half their lives and been in love for most of that. But it's impossible to have a relationship separated by an ocean and both believe the distance to be insurmountable. After years of life getting in the way and keeping them apart, they finally fall into place in the same time and place.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Felix, Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin, Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin | I.N</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>On The Waves [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766059</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Jilix</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Jisung Loves Felix and Minho Gives the Best Birthday Gifts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>as promised this is the jilix fic for this universe!!! it took me ages because i was halfway done with it and then decided i was going to completely re write it (: </p><p>this is unedited at the moment but will be edited at a future date when the mood strikes me</p><p>you do not have to read any of the other fics first this series can absolutely be read out of order because there's not really an order they just sort of exist outside of time and space in relation to each other </p><p>no warnings, despite the tags. an abusive relationship is mentioned but not discussed other than it happened.<br/>if you read this and feel like there should be warnings pls let me know so i can include them!!! thanks! :)))</p><p>important stuff out of the way, enjoy! :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            Jisung had known what he wanted to do with his life since the moment his dad had first taken him to the park at seven years old and put a cheap, plastic throw away camera in his hands and told him to have fun. Somewhere in his childhood home there were still those first blurry pictures of dogs and birds and stray cats. As he got older Jisung’s love for photography in combination with his passion for animals only grew and as he reached an age where he could research online he found himself supporting different animal and eco friendly groups around the world and buckled down to improve his English. His parents sent him to Malaysia in middle school for his education and Jisung struggled to make friends, quickly becoming the weird kid that liked to talk about recycling and green energy and how humans were destroying natural habitats for thousands of animals without thought. Mostly he didn’t mind, but every twelve year old wants friends and Jisung was so lonely. He spent most of his free time not taking pictures of local scenery and animals holed up in the library or in his room watching documentaries and using what he knew of English in combination with translation apps to be able to be involved in online forums for other people with similar interests. He’s halfway through his first year when he finds a video that’s completely in English of a boy about his age, who’s shakily filming himself at the aquarium with his friend. His friend speaks heavily accented English and the boy speaks a handful of Korean phrases as they walk through the aquarium. The majority of their focus is on how the aquarium helps rehabilitate sea animals in their area and the work the aquarium does to preserve the reef in their ocean. The boy has messy brown hair, big eyes, and is absolutely covered in freckles. Jisung finds himself clicking on another video, this one with him and his friend out in the ocean showing some of the reef and a few tide pools. Jisung does his best to keep up with the strange accent the boy uses and finds out the boy lives in Sydney, Australia and his friend that films for him is his friend Seungmin who is an exchange student from Korea, there for the year to see if he wants to continue pursuing his education in Sydney. Jisung watches a handful of other videos, most of them Felix and Seungmin wandering around Sydney and several of Felix surfing and teaching Seungmin to surf. In the process Jisung follows him on social media and doesn’t expect anything to come of it. He’s surprised to see a message in his inbox the next day from the other boy.</p><p><strong><em>@frecklesfelix:</em></strong> hello! is saw you liked a lot of my videos the other day! Seungminnie translated for me and your page is really cool! You’re follow so many environment groups! We should talk I’d love to know how to be more involved!</p><p>            Jisung hadn’t expected the other to notice him, but maybe it was his Korean username that had caught his eye, either way Jisung would always be glad that he had reached out. He hadn’t expected to make a friend for life through social media and a few videos about Sydney, Australia, but he had. As he got older he found himself working harder to improve his English as he and Felix grew to be good friends. Felix’s friend Seungmin went back to Seoul until high school when he moved to Sydney permanently and both Jisung and Seungmin helped Felix improve his Korean when he asked. Jisung visited once the summer before high school started and spent the summer running around Sydney and visiting the aquarium and playing on the beach with Felix. Moving back to Seoul after that had been incredibly lonely. Being able to video call with Felix every day helped ease the loneliness for the first several months, but it didn’t change that while Jisung found it easy to talk to his classmates he couldn’t really make friends with any of them. He was still the kid that was a little too attached to his camera and a little too into saving the planet and was just a little too odd. Felix thought it was ridiculous but Felix made friends the way bears take to honey and had made friends with half his class by the time midterms rolled around and he had drug Seungmin along with him. It wasn’t until the next semester that Jisung met Minho. Someone just as lonely as he was, who didn’t think he was weird because he always had his camera with him. Who asked about the t-shirts he wore and what they meant and why they were important. Minho had cheerfully gone vegan with Jisung the second year of high school for the whole year because Jisung had been adamant it was a good idea. He’d helped Jisung make flyers for the green earth club and then helped make posters for earth day and had been with Jisung planting as many trees as the two physically could. He’d gone with Jisung to different group meetings around Seoul that Jisung wanted to be involved in and had pushed Jisung to enter his photos into different competitions and had been the first person that Jisung had shown his awards too, Felix being second only because the other was in a competition and Jisung couldn’t video call.</p><p>            The third year of high school was rough. Minho had gotten a modelling job, the attention he’d gotten online from Jisung posting pictures of him gaining him attention from an agent. It had been hard watching Minho be all excited about it and then slowly lose that enthusiasm. He’d watched as the entire school suddenly tried to befriend Minho and Minho had been ecstatic and then had watched as Minho fell apart on his couch the night he realized none of them wanted anything to do with him and just wanted to happen to be noticed by Idol Weekly for associating with him. Felix had been the only person Jisung vented to that year, because Minho needed him to be the rock. Minho needed his support and Jisung needed Felix’s. Minho still went with Jisung to the meetings he wanted to go to and still pushed for Jisung to submit photos to different magazines. By their last year of high school Felix knew exactly what he was doing with his life and was beyond excited about studying Marine Biology the next year and that he would get to room with Seungmin and they’d live on campus and experience college together. Jisung felt a little like he was floundering. He felt like he had no real direction. All he knew was that he wasn’t leaving Minho to fend for himself. His new manager was some sort of demon from hell in Jisung’s opinion and Jisung was tired of watching the light in his friend’s eyes die out.</p><p>            That year was hard all around. Minho tried to get Jisung to study in Sydney and pursue wildlife photography and Jisung just couldn’t. He couldn’t leave Minho on his own, Minho had been the only person other than Felix that hadn’t thought Jisung was the weird animal kid, that had been excited to learn more about everything Jisung was passionate about. Jisung had followed him to dance classes because Minho was passionate about that and Jisung loved Minho. Felix had suggested coming to Sydney, had suggested that Jisung could live with him and Seungmin, and had asked if maybe just maybe there was a possibility that they could be more than friends. And oh Jisung wished that he could, he was pretty sure at this point that the puppy crush he’d had on the Australian for years and years now wasn’t ever going to go away. He was sure that Felix was his soulmate and Felix was just as sure. The night of graduation Minho hadn’t shown up. His manager had forced him to miss it and Minho’s parents wouldn’t have come anyway. Jisung’s parents didn’t show up either, he was alone on that stage. Minho had sent Jisung a message of congratulations and asked him not to meet up that night, because apparently the photo shoot was going to go all night because the photographer didn’t like the way Minho looked on camera and the designer was even more unhappy and Minho didn’t understand why they had him modelling if he wasn’t right for the job. Jisung had called Felix after everyone had cleared out, holding his diploma in his hand, his cap and gown on the bleachers next to him, looking at an empty field.</p><p>            “Jisungie! Congratulations!” yelled Seungmin over the phone line, “Lix, I’m heading out, I’ll see you later.”</p><p>            “Okay, Minnie, see you tomorrow,” agreed Felix. Jisung could hear the waves in the background.</p><p>            “Hey, Jisungie, congrats,” said Felix and Jisung swallowed down tears.</p><p>            “Thanks, Lixie,” he said trying not to sound upset. But Felix was his soulmate and Felix knew, Felix always knew.</p><p>            “Oh no, what happened?” he asked.</p><p>            “Minho-hyung didn’t get to walk across stage,” said Jisung, “not that his parents would have shown up anyway.”</p><p>            “Do you want me to call and chew him out?” asked Felix.</p><p>            “No. No, Lix, he didn’t get to be here. His manager scheduled him on his day off knowing he was graduating today. His manager scheduled him with a designer and a photographer that are planning to make him work all night because he’s not good enough and not pretty enough and not thin enough,” said Jisung. “My parents didn’t show up either, but I wasn’t expecting them to now, you know?”</p><p>            “I knew I should have bought a ticket and flown out,” said Felix.</p><p>            “And miss yours tomorrow? Absolutely not,” said Jisung smiling and wiping at his eyes trying not to cry.</p><p>            “You’re not coming to Sydney are you?” asked Felix because Felix knew. Felix knew him better than anyone in the world and Felix understood and Jisung was so so in love with a boy an ocean away that he might spend his entire life waiting for.</p><p>            “I can’t,” said Jisung quietly, “I can’t leave him to this. Lix, he’s falling apart. He used to be so bright, he was lonely like me, but gosh Lix, he was passionate and he loved what he did and who he was and this, this modelling thing it’s killing him. I can’t let him do this alone. I’ll get a photography degree, I’ve had different people approach me because my photos are what got Minho-hyung attention in the first place. If I get a photography degree I can do wildlife photography on the side still, I can still support where I can. And maybe someday I’ll get to travel and really make a difference. But right now, Minho-hyung needs me, anyone really, he just needs someone in his corner and I’m the only one that will be there. I can’t let this kill him, Lix.”</p><p>            “I know,” said Felix quietly, “I figured that’d happen. Me and Seungmin have been watching his career when we can you know? And you’re right he doesn’t look happy, he’s not happy and I can work with someday. We can make someday work, Jisungie. You need to be there, four more years hell eight more years being internet friends that’s okay.”</p><p>            “Don’t hold onto me,” said Jisung quickly. “I wouldn’t do that to you. I fully expect you to find some cute Aussie guy in school and I fully expect to get to here all the details about it because I’m your best friend, you here me, Lix? And hell stay away from frat boys, I don’t want you to get hurt and keep Seungmin away from them too.” Felix laughed and Jisung felt better. Felix always made him feel better.</p><p>            “You too, Jisungie, I want to hear all about your adventures in dating in Seoul,” said Felix, “and keep me updated on Minho. And hey, if you ever need me I’ve got a couch you can land on.”</p><p>            “Same here,” said Jisung, “thanks, Lix.”</p><p>            “You want to here about my day? Me and Minnie are life guarding together this summer,” said Felix.</p><p>            “Boy do I,” said Jisung, “at the beach?”</p><p>            “No, community pool,” said Felix and Jisung let Felix drown out his problems regaling him with tales of human stupidity at the Sydney Community Pool while the sunset over the bleachers and the stars came out above him and Jisung wished with all his might on every single star that someday he’d get to a place in his life where he could be at Felix’s side.</p><p> </p><p>            College was fun for Jisung, but he watched as Minho came closer and closer to falling to pieces every day and that was not fun. Felix was always a call away ready to listen to Jisung’s worries and chat about meaningless stuff and tell him about everything happening in Sydney and all about the younger foreign student from Seoul that he and Seungmin had instantly adopted and how there was an entire hoard of foreign students that had taken Seungmin into their group and Felix by extension. Sydney sounded like a blast and Jisung loved that Felix was getting to chase his dreams. Half the time all Felix had to talk about was surfing and random fish and Jisung loved every minute of it. Graduating college and becoming Minho’s full time photographer had been fun, it meant a lot of travel and Jisung was so glad that he’d had a reason to study English so intensely when he was younger because it would make it much more difficult to travel like this if he hadn’t. Minho dated around a bit and Jisung never liked any of his significant others. Felix told Jisung all about the awesome older surfer and musician that their friend Jeongin lived with and how cool he was and how he was Korean too and that his hair was curly and that he was the nicest person that Felix had ever met and Jisung was half convinced that the three of them were in love with him the way they talked about him.</p><p>            Then Minho passed out and Jisung went with him to the hospital and sat in the hospital waiting room because he was the closest thing Minho had to family and Minho was the closest Jisung had to family. The doctor told him it was malnourishment and Jisung realized that Minho had been following the diet he’d told Jisung he wasn’t following. Jisung called Minho’s agency that night and demanded that they give Minho a different manager or they would sue for mistreatment. The company made the change and Jisung hoped that Jihyo would be a better fit. Felix called while he was in the hospital room waiting for Minho to wake up, the doctor had said it probably wouldn’t be until morning but that he was stable.</p><p>            “Ji,” said Felix, “I need you.”</p><p>            “Hey, I need you too,” said Jisung quietly, “I’ve had a hell of a night. What’s up with you?”</p><p>            “Oh my god,” said Felix, “I don’t even know how to start, it’s so awful. You go first.”</p><p>            “Minho-hyung passed out and wouldn’t wake up,” said Jisung, “I’m in the hospital staying over night until he wakes up. You remember that awful diet plan his manager suggested that hyung told me he wouldn’t do?”</p><p>            “Oh my god,” whispered Felix horrified, “fuck, Jisung, is he okay?”</p><p>            “The doctor said no lasting damage but that he’d be weak for awhile,” said Jisung, “I called the agency for him. I’m his emergency contact you know? I told them what happened and that if they didn’t change his manager out tonight we’d sue them for mistreatment.”</p><p>            “Holy shit,” said Felix, “how’d that go?”</p><p>            “Well, we both still have jobs and his new manager starts tomorrow, her name is Jihyo. Hopefully it’s better,” said Jisung pulling his knees up to his chest. “What’s up down there? I thought Jeongin got back recently?”</p><p>            “Yesterday night,” said Felix, “and he called me and Seungmin in the middle of the night and oh my god, Jisung. You know our friend Chan? Our really really awesome friend that’s like the nicest person in the world that would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it?”</p><p>            “The guy you all act like invented surfing or something,” said Jisung smiling slightly.</p><p>            “I told you he had a boyfriend, right? And that me and Minnie hadn’t ever met him but that Jeongin hates him with a passion,” said Felix.</p><p>            “Right,” said Jisung, “which is weird but not that weird. Chan’s basically his big brother, yeah?”</p><p>            “Yeah,” said Felix. “Well, Jeongin called us because he got home last night and Chan-hyung has the black eye from hell, the entire half of his face is black and blue and looks godawful.”</p><p>            “Holy shit, is he okay?” asked Jisung.</p><p>            “No, no he’s really not,” said Felix, “but he’s better than he could be. Me and Seungmin had been worried because SKZ had been shut down for like the entire week, right? Well, apparently a week ago he and his boyfriend, who is the worst person known to man to the point I don’t even have the words to describe it, they had a fight. Channie-hyung was trying to stand up for himself apparently, because his boyfriend is pretty controlling, turned out very controlling and Chan didn’t want to live like that anymore. And oh my god, Jisung, he’s been emotionally abusing and manipulating hyung for years now.”</p><p>            “Fuck, did he hit him?” asked Jisung.</p><p>            “Yeah.”</p><p>            “A week ago and it’s still that bad?”</p><p>            “Apparently it was just one hit and he looked horrified but one was enough. Thank god, hyung, had been living with Jeongin and had been sure that not everything his boyfriend had been telling him was true anymore, because I can’t imagine what would have happened to him if he hadn’t kicked him out of the house and threatened to call the cops. We’re having a bonfire tomorrow and burning all his shit and we’re going to celebrate the death of hyung’s relationship.”</p><p>            “Oh my god,” said Jisung quietly, “shit that’s so awful. I hope he’s okay. Let him know I’m glad he’s alright.”</p><p>            “I will,” said Felix, “tell Minho that he better get better and if this ever happens again I’ll fly to Seoul to kick his ass.” Jisung laughed and Felix’s laugh joined in across the phone line and suddenly life didn’t seem as bad. Sure bad things happened but they had each other, even across phone lines and oceans, Jisung would always have Felix and Felix would always have him and as long as that happened life would be okay.</p><p>           </p><p>            Minho’s new manager was the best, Jisung loved her immediately. She was so nice and insisted that Minho be healthy and had even encouraged him to try and step away from the habits his old manager had created. So Jisung adored her which meant Felix adored her by proxy. And Jisung thought maybe this would fix it, maybe things would finally start to work out. And then Minho fell in love. It was another model. She wasn’t Jisung’s favorite person but he couldn’t figure out why, but Minho adored her. They dated for three years and Jisung liked her less and less as time went on. After three years it was exposed that she’d been cheating on Minho the whole time and she broke up with him publicly and drug him through the mud on every media site that would cover the break up, claiming he wasn’t attentive, that he was boring, that she’d been forced to find love elsewhere because he was such a terrible, cold, and cruel person. Which meant Jisung had called Felix absolutely livid and had ranted for four hours because Minho refused to let Jisung do anything. They spent two months with Minho depressed and spending most of his days curled up on his couch unmoving unless Jisung forced him to or he had a job he had to be at. Two months and Jisung didn’t know what to do and was wishing life was easier and he could be on a beach somewhere with Felix at his side and a camera to take pictures with in his hands. Which called to mind a promise seven years in the making and Jisung sat down at his laptop to see how much one way tickets to Sydney, Australia would cost. His next call had been Jihyo who agreed immediately and told him to get Minho out of the country and that he had an entire month two if he could get Minho to take it without work while she did damage control. So Jisung called Felix while looking at the tickets on his laptop.</p><p>            “Jisung, hey,” greeted Felix, “what’s up?”</p><p>            “Hey, do I still have an open invitation to your couch?” asked Jisung.</p><p>            “Well, me and Seungmin have a guest room now but yeah,” said Felix, “why?”</p><p>            “I’m booking one way tickets to Sydney right now, me and Minho will be there in the morning. I’ve got to get him out of Seoul and off somewhere that modelling won’t matter and no one will recognize him,” said Jisung, “he needs a chance to just be.”</p><p>            “Fantastic,” said Felix, “what time do you land?” And Jisung laughed and clicked to buy the tickets. Felix truly was his soulmate, always on board with whatever impulsive decisions Jisung made, willing to jump off every cliff with him without fear of where they were landing. Jisung couldn’t wait to see him. Jisung told him when they were landing and glanced at his watch, he had enough time to get some sleep and then pack and then go wake Minho up in time for their flight. Felix promised to pick him up in the morning and they hung up. He slept a few hours and woke up to his alarm at an insane time of the morning and shoved everything he could possibly need into his suitcase. He called an uber and headed over to Minho’s apartment and told the girl he’d pay her extra to stay and wait for them, she did. Minho had been confused and incoherent but hadn’t protested which spoke volumes about how much he wanted to get away from everything. Jisung got him packed and onto the plane with minimal difficulty and then was squinting at all the English signs in the airport, running off of the coffee they had bought at four in the morning in the Seoul airport before leaving for Sydney. It took him longer than he thought it should have to find the baggage claim, dragging Minho with him. They found their bags and Jisung checked his phone to see if Felix was there as they walked towards the pick up. He shoved his phone in his pocket and told Minho to look for orange hair when he asked if Jisung would recognize his friend. Someone screamed his name and Jisung turned to look and there he was. Older, tanner, more muscled, but still skinny and as always covered in freckles. His hair was orange and he was beaming like the sun come to earth and Jisung felt like he was home. Felix jumped out of the Jeep to hug him excitedly greeting him. The red head in the driver’s seat must be Seungmin who waved cheerfully and greeted both of them. Both boys had wet hair but Jisung didn’t mind that Felix had gotten him wet. It made sense. Jisung knew that Felix and his friends spent every available moment in the ocean. The got them all loaded up and Jisung introduced Minho and within ten minutes Minho had visibly relaxed. This might be exactly what he needed. Watching Felix in the passenger seat of the car, cranking the radio up and singing along with the wind in his hair, cemented the fact that Jisung was never going to find someone else like him and it was going to hurt like hell to leave in a month, but it’d be worth it to get to spend this month in Sydney where he could hug Felix to his heart’s content.</p><p>           </p><p>            Minho slept for most of the day and then they got introduced to their friends and Seungmin’s boyfriend and then at the bonfire that night, Jisung saw the impossible happen. He saw Minho’s eyes light up like they hadn’t in years and Jisung hoped that whatever triggered it was there to stay. It was days later that he realized it was Chan that had caused Minho’s eyes to light up as Minho woke up at the crack of dawn every day to go surf with the older boy and came back soaked to the bone and telling them he hadn’t managed to catch a single wave but smiling like he had won the lottery. And Jisung wondered if he had accidentally doomed them both to a lifetime of wishing they were somewhere they could never be. Jisung didn’t care enough for surfing to be up every morning at the crack of dawn, but waking up to Felix shaking him awake his orange hair still dripping wet smelling like the ocean breeze was everything he had ever wanted. Felix’s freckles were the best thing in the world and Jisung wanted to spend his life counting them.</p><p>            “Come on, Jisungie,” said Felix in his adorably accented Korean. He never had managed to lose his Aussie accent over the years and Jisung never wanted him to. “You wanted to meet my fish, Jisungie.” And Jisung sat bolt upright.</p><p>            “Right, fish!” said Jisung excitedly, “give me ten minutes to brush my teeth and change and grab my camera and we can go.” Felix laughed and stepped out into the living room as Jisung hurriedly threw on some clothes.</p><p>            “I’ll grab you coffee,” he called.</p><p>            “Yeah, okay!” called Jisung pulling on the first shirt he found, it was from high school back when Jisung had taken a trip to Kenya to help with an animal’s rights group and had gotten to help on an elephant sanctuary. It was old and faded but had been one of his favorites ever since. Felix handed him a travel mug when he joined him in the kitchen and Jisung set it on the table and pulled on his sneakers before picking it back up and pulling his camera strap over his neck.</p><p>            “Ready?” asked Felix grabbing the keys for the Jeep and pulling his lanyard with his ID over his head.</p><p>            “Yeah! Let’s go!” agreed Jisung bouncing slightly and then clamoring to follow Felix down the stairs and to the Jeep. Felix started the Jeep and pulled out onto the road and Jisung closed his eyes enjoying the feeling of the wind in his hair and the sun on his skin. Riding shotgun in Felix’s Jeep, a KPOP cd playing in the background and the ocean waves accenting the music perfectly was paradise if you asked him. He wanted to remember every second of this for when he was sad and missing Felix in a month.</p><p>            “Did Minho-hyung go with you to surf this morning?” he asked breaking the peace.</p><p>            “Yeah, he and Seungminnie went for coffee and then probably to SKZ,” said Felix. Jisung chuckled and nodded.</p><p>            “For sure to SKZ,” he said. Minho’s eyes lit up in a way they hadn’t since Jisung had first met him when he was around Chan. The older boy was had the biggest crush on him that Jisung had ever seen.</p><p>            “Oh?” asked Felix smirking.</p><p>            “Is Chan-hyung gay, bi, or otherwise into guys?” asked Jisung opening his eyes to look at Felix, more just to have something to ask. He knew Chan had dated guys in the past. He remember the call three years ago in the hospital room while Felix cried for his friend. Felix laughed.</p><p>            “I’ve never asked how he identifies but yeah, he’s into guys,” said Felix nodding, “but don’t expect Minho-hyung to get anywhere. Channie’s not had a date in three years.”</p><p>            “Not since that one you called me about then?” asked Jisung and Felix nodded again.</p><p>            “Yeah,” said Felix quietly, “you know it was bad. You know the fall out was really bad. I didn’t know him before that, you know? BamBam-hyung says he’s not like he used to be, that he doesn’t fall easily anymore. He’s a lot more cautious with his heart. Which isn’t bad, but it does mean that with you all leaving in a month I’d be shocked if he let anything happen.”</p><p>            “Hyung won’t want to do anything either way so it’s all good,” said Jisung shrugging, “since we’re only here a month and unless Chan-hyung’s into one night stands Minho won’t want to lead him on, probably doesn’t want that anyway, he doesn’t really do flings.”</p><p>            “Good,” said Felix nodding, “he didn’t seem like the type.” It was hard to believe something that bad had happened to Chan. He was so sweet and put together and radiated light in a way that most people didn’t. Jisung barely knew him but could admit he had an undeniable pull to his personality, he was magnetic. It was hard to imagine anything bad had ever happened to him. Jisung hoped nothing bad ever happened to him again. It had only been a handful of days but Jisung completely understood why the other three loved him so much, he was one of the best and coolest people that Jisung had ever met. The kind of a guy that Jisung would have looked at in high school and told his teachers he wanted to be him when he grew up.</p><p>“What about Seungmin and Jeongin?” he asked trying to find a better conversation topic. “How long have they been together?”</p><p>            “Ah, they crushed on each other for almost two years before they actually got together. They’ve only been dating for a year,” said Felix smiling, “they’re cute, yeah?”</p><p>            “Yeah, disgustingly cute,” said Jisung nodding.</p><p>            “They’re lucky,” said Felix pulling into the parking lot.</p><p>            “Yeah,” agreed Jisung though he wasn’t sure if he was agreeing because they were lucky they had found each other or if it was that he was agreeing that they were lucky the person they loved was in arms reach and not an entire ocean away. Felix parked and Jisung climbed out of the Jeep meeting him in front of it. He might not get to have Felix in the ways he wanted but he knew he had him for life, that he wouldn’t ever lose him and Jisung was willing to take everything he could get when it came to Felix Lee. Felix shoved the keys to the Jeep into his pocket and ran his hands through his hair as he led the way into the building, causing his hair to fluff up now that it was much dryer. The orange suited him and Jisung thought it was adorable.</p><p>            “Alright, we’re not officially open for another three hours so you’re getting the backstage tour,” said Felix clapping his hands, “we’ve got a whale and a dolphin in rehabilitation right now, there’s an octopus that just came in a week ago that we’re getting ready to send on home, and the babies that live with us permanently.” Jisung laughed and let Felix excitedly drag him towards the door. Felix always talked about the fish as if they were residents in an apartment complex, and the fish that were permanent fixtures in the aquarium were his babies. It was adorable. Felix unlocked the door by scanning his ID and pulled Jisung in after him. One of the security guards waved hello and Felix waved back.</p><p>            “We need to get you a wrist band and then I’ll show you around,” said Felix brightly. Minutes later Jisung had a bright red plastic bracelet strapped onto his wrist and was following an excited Felix into the back.</p><p>            “We’re going to the rehabilitation center first and then I’ll show you around the rest when it’s open,” said Felix nodding. He waved at a boy in a volunteer shirt that seemed to be helping set something up near one of the outdoor exhibits.</p><p>            “Morning, Beomgyu-ah!” he yelled. The boy waved back.</p><p>            “Morning, hyung!” he called. He squinted at waved again at Jisung calling out to him too. “<em>Morning, Felix’s friend!</em>”</p><p>            “<em>This is Jisungie! My friend from Seoul!</em>” called Felix.</p><p>            “Oh! Welcome to Sydney!” called Beomgyu.</p><p>            “Lunch today?” asked Felix.</p><p>            “Yeah! Noon!”</p><p>            “See you,” called Felix and then led the way into one of the buildings in the back.</p><p>            “Who was that?” asked Jisung curious.</p><p>            “That’s Beomgyu-ah,” said Felix nodding, “he’s from Daegu. He volunteers here a lot. You haven’t met Kai yet, he works with Chan-hyung and Jeongin, he’s one of Beomgyu’s best friends. Chenle works here too with me, he’s an exchange student also in Marine Biology, he’s from China. And you’ll probably meet Jungkook-hyung, he works as a tour guide for the aquarium and normally sits with us for lunch. They all speak Korean too so you don’t have to worry about English.”</p><p>            “<em>My English is good,</em>” complained Jisung and Felix laughed.</p><p>            “<em>Yeah, but if we speak Korean you don’t have to be translating everything as we go,</em>” pointed out Felix, “we normally speak Korean anyway because it’s Beomgyu and Jungkook’s native language and me and Chenle both have a lot of practice with it.” Felix pushed open the door and Jisung lost his train of thought as the dolphins in the water below them swam up to greet Felix excitedly. Felix immediately went to pet their noses cooing at each of them calling them by name and promising to feed them. Jisung turned his camera on and immediately started snapping pictures of Felix in his natural habitat. He was technically here to take pictures of the animals but how could he pass up the opportunity to get pictures of Felix genuinely happy. Felix didn’t even notice just started introducing Jisung to the dolphins and pulled him closer and had him pet the nose of one called Alice.</p><p>            “Want to feed them?” asked Felix moving over to a bucket while Jisung tried to snap a one handed picture of him petting the dolphin’s nose.</p><p>            “Is that even a question?” asked Jisung and Felix laughed. Jisung could swear that Felix’s laugh could cure cancer.</p><p>           </p><p>            The next few weeks had Jisung’s Instagram filled to the brim with pictures and videos of Felix and the other aquarium employees interacting with the fish and telling him about the reef and everything they did at the aquarium to help. They were there so often that one of the editors for the magazine that ran out of the aquarium asked if Jisung would like to have the possibility of his pictures being featured in their magazine. Jisung had agreed excitedly and had turned in a bunch of different photos. The magazine loved them and offered him a job with them and Jisung ached when he turned it down. He wasn’t abandoning Minho, but he was going to take every minute with Felix he could. He met Chenle’s friends after three weeks, they were two older boys and one younger that performed on specific weekends for the aquarium and Jisung hadn’t known real life mermaids were a thing until then. Apparently their group of performers rotated out frequently as people traveled for different internships, all of them being majors in something animal or environmental related and Jisung was told he happened to be here on the weekend that it was all guys. Jisung was more than a little curious what it would be like to be able to swim like that in a tail that weighed so much, and if it was like living a fairytale. When he asked Chenle’s hyung that was Korean, Taeyong had laughed and told him it was more than a little surreal and you didn’t ever really get used to it but that it wasn’t at all easy. He offered to let Jisung try one of their tails sometime in someone’s backyard pool, someone that Jisung hadn’t met yet, but Jisung had to turn him down. He wasn’t going to be here that long. He was only here for another week before he and Minho were flying back to Seoul.</p><p> </p><p>            Saying goodbye to Felix and everything he had ever dreamed of having had been hard, but he hadn’t cried. He and Minho had promised over and over to come visit and Jisung had a thousand and one pictures he would get to cherish and a dozen different gifts the other boys had given him. And he knew he had a place he could call home and people he could call family in Sydney. He knew that if they tried to say goodbye at the airport he would burst into tears and he didn’t want that so he had refused to let any of them come with them to the airport. He made it all the way through security and boarding before he couldn’t keep from crying. And for the first time in years Minho was his rock instead of the other way around and Jisung loved Minho. He really did, he was one of the best brothers anyone could ever ask for and he held Jisung until he cried himself to sleep as they flew back to Seoul. Minho had dropped him off at his apartment and asked if he would be okay and Jisung had told him he would be. He’d cried himself out at this point. It was time to move on. He slept until about noon the next day and drug himself out of bed. If he got up and moving he would feel better, but the apartment was too quiet and Jisung wished he was at the aquarium wearing a red bracelet and taking pictures of Felix talking to sharks like they were puppies, his orange hair bright in the sunlight.</p><p> </p><p>            He spent several nights looking at the different pictures he had taken smiling at them, enjoying the memories. His favorite videos included Felix laughing at Minho wiping out as he learned to surf.</p><p>A picture of Felix leaned half into the dolphin tank, his hair and t-shirt soaked and a dolphin swimming under his fingertips looking for affection.</p><p>A video of Felix excitedly telling a group of young elementary school kids about different sharks and leading them through the shark tunnel chanting sharks are friends not food.</p><p>A picture of Felix leaned against the porch rail of Chan and Jeongin’s porch looking down at a soaked Jeongin and Seungmin, face bright with laughter.</p><p>A cheesy video of Felix and his friends Chenle and Beomgyu wearing their aquarium shirts holding up the hang loose symbol and yelling at Jisung’s camera, “Support your local aquarium and get cool!”</p><p>And one of Felix the last night they were there, sitting on the back porch illuminated by the bad porch light and the stars above them laid back lazily with his arms under his head smiling up at Jisung like he was Felix’s entire world. And Jisung missed him more than anything, but was so so glad that he had gotten to have even a month like this with him. He could be happy the rest of his life knowing that he’d had this month. Even if it never worked out and they could never be in a place where they would be able to love each other, Jisung would always have Felix and he would always be okay because of that. As long as Jisung lived in a world where Felix existed everything would be okay.</p><p> </p><p>            He’d settled back into life in Seoul after that. He still called and talked to Felix constantly and was kept updated on everything going on and Felix told him about the sea turtles that came into the aquarium in early September and how it was like a birthday present because Felix adored turtles and they were so cute. Minho’s neighbors Hyunjin and Changbin had become a regular fixture of their lives and Minho seemed so happy. Jisung was thrilled. He hadn’t seen Minho this happy ever and life was good. Hyunjin and Changbin had insisted on celebrating Jisung’s birthday a few weeks early because they weren’t free any other weekend and Jisung had a blast that night. The three of them had given him a handful of gifts and they’d told their Sydney friends they were celebrating early so the gifts from the Aussies had arrived early as well and there was cheesecake because Minho was his best friend and he knew Jisung like the back of his hand. And because Minho knew Jisung like the back of his hand he knew exactly what it was that Jisung wanted most in the world even though he had never told him. Still the letter from Jihyo saying he was fired had nearly given him a heart attack but it wouldn’t be Minho if he couldn’t do it in the most dramatic way possible. Jisung had a job in Sydney if he wanted it and he knew Minho was in a place where he didn’t need Jisung anymore. It was time for Jisung to go and chase what he wanted from life and that was a job working for a wildlife magazine run out of an aquarium in Sydney, Australia. He was set to move in days before the job started, only a couple days shy of Seungmin’s birthday in September and after Felix’s.</p><p>            But Jisung didn’t have the best friends for nothing and woke up at four in the morning the day of the fifteenth to Minho in his apartment shaking him awake holding a ticket and telling him to grab a bag. Minho dropped him off at the airport and for the second time in his life Jisung found himself at the Seoul airport at four in the morning with a one way ticket to Sydney, Australia. But this time it wasn’t Felix waiting to pick him up it was Jackson who stopped and bought him breakfast and congratulated him on the job and then dropped him off at Chan’s door step in time for Felix’s birthday party. Jisung had mailed Felix’s gift weeks ago, not wanting it to be late, but he did have a gift he’d decided not to send. A photo album of the month he and Minho had spent in Sydney and he had that held in one hand his suitcase in the other as he knocked on the door. Jeongin opened and stared at him shocked.</p><p>            “<em>Holy fuck.</em>”</p><p>            “<em>Innie? You okay? You never swear,</em>” called Chan.</p><p>            “<em>Oh my fucking fuck. Felix! Felix! You’ve gotta come here!</em>” Felix came hurrying down the stairs to make sure Jeongin was okay, the other two steps behind him and Felix stopped dead in his tracks on the stairs, the other two running into him.</p><p>            “Jisung?” asked Felix. Jisung beamed at him and held out the book.</p><p>            “Happy Birthday,” he said. Felix screamed and tackled him into a hug, knocking Jisung onto his ass in the sand and Jisung was pretty sure that heaven was Felix in his arms wrapped around him holding him like he wouldn’t ever let go.</p><p>            “Holy shit! How’d you get here? I can’t believe you’re here! How long are you here for! This is the best gift ever. You can’t possibly top this,” said Felix excitedly pulling back so he could see Jisung.</p><p>            “It gets better,” said Jisung laughing. His face hurt from how much he was smiling but he has sunshine in human form sitting on him smiling like he’d found Willy Wonka’s golden ticket and Jisung never wanted to forget this. He wanted to remember this exactly as it was so he’d always have this memory when he needed something to remind him that even the storm would pass and the sun would shine again.</p><p>            “How could it possibly get better?” asked Felix and Jisung grinned.</p><p>            “Chan-hyung’s giving me his loft,” said Jisung, “Minho-hyung got me a job as a wildlife photographer for the Manly Marine and Wildlife Magazine. I’m not leaving.” Felix screamed again, in a mixture of Korean and English that Jisung wasn’t even sure were actual words and Jisung laughed and let Felix hug him tightly and then turn to glare at Chan.</p><p>            “You knew?! You knew and you didn’t tell me?” he demanded.</p><p>            “I had no idea he was showing up today,” said Chan shaking his head, “that was all Minho.”</p><p>            “Last minute birthday gift for both of us,” said Jisung laughing, “that’s what he told me.”</p><p>            “You’re really here to stay?” asked Felix.</p><p>            “I’m really here to stay,” said Jisung nodding, managing to pull his arms free so he could wrap them tightly around Felix.</p><p>            “Then I can do this?” asked Felix hands coming up to Jisung’s face and leaning in close. Jisung leaned up to meet him immediately and pressed his lips to Felix’s. Felix tasted like sunscreen and salt water and cotton candy and Jisung would never be happier than this moment. Wrapped up in Felix, even with the chaos of moving his entire life to a completely different country, this was exactly where he was supposed to be. It had taken years, but Jisung was finally home.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>thank you for reading!!! </p><p>this fic says it has two chapters because Felix's point of view will be chapter two once i get it written!<br/>since this is shorter than the Minho and Chan storyline i just put both point of views as two chapters here :)</p><p>the TXT one in this universe is still in progress i just don't really have a solid idea of where i want it to end which is making it slow to write, so there's that update. </p><p>it could be a while before i have time to write a lot again, because i'm taking a four week history class that looks like it's going to be hell. please send prayers and good vibes. i've got to pass this class in order to graduate on time -_-</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Felix Grows Up, Life Gets in the Way, and Finally Everything Comes Together</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>this is the fourth work in this series i think? y'all know how this works. </p><p>it's the same story but it's Felix's point of view :D</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>as always this is currently unedited</p><p>there's discussion of healing and mental health and the effects of trauma. i have no medical degree in anything. i know nothing about any of this. full creative liberty has been taken, just know that going into it. there's discussion of people close to an abuse survivor trying to figure out their own worries and fears for their friend and for the future of their own relationships. i have no experience with this so please be fully aware that i don't know what i'm talking about :D<br/>i almost didn't put that part of the chapter in because i felt unqualified to address it, but it felt wrong to gloss over it since it did effect the four of them living in sydney and who they are and how they interact with each other and the others so it stayed. i'm sorry if you don't like how i portrayed it i did my best :( </p><p>i wrote this in like three hours instead of doing my homework so this is pretty rough it'll get edited eventually </p><p>i think that's everything important enjoy! :) </p><p>***if you feel this needs warnings pls let me know and i will add them!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>            Felix’s earliest memories all involve the ocean. Every last one of them. His mom used to say he was part fish. His favorite movies growing up had been The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo. When Finding Dory had come out he had forced Seungmin to go with him to the theater to watch it with all the little kids. Felix belonged to the ocean, it was part of him in a way that nothing else ever would be. His dad claimed that the salt was engraved in Felix’s soul. He’d been surfing almost from the minute he could walk and he hadn’t given it up when most of his friends and cousins had started pulling away from it as they got older. But Felix never did, it was who he was and he wouldn’t have it any other way. The ocean was part of him and he was part of the ocean, he could never leave it. Which meant no one was surprised when he decided to study Marine Biology, they had seen it coming for years. Since the first time Felix had gone to the aquarium with his aunt and his two cousins.</p><p>His older cousin was in college and had come to visit for the summer, staying with Felix’s aunt who had a kid Felix’s age. So Felix’s parents had agreed that he could go with them to the aquarium since his aunt wouldn’t be wrangling all the younger cousins on her own. Felix remembers very little of the aquarium until they got to the shark tunnel. He remembers his cousin Henry screaming and crying and his aunt having to pick him up and take him outside to calm down. He remembers his aunt trying to get him to go with them but Felix was adamant that he had to see what all the fuss was about. So his cousin had smiled and told his aunt that he would take Felix through the tunnel. They weren’t close now by any means and Felix doubted his cousin, an adult now with a family of his own, even remembered this. But it had meant the world to Felix and Felix distinctly remembers his cousin carrying him on his hip when he was six walking through the shark tunnel at the aquarium and telling him every shark fact he could think of while Felix looked around in awe. As far as Felix was concerned that was when he started loving fish, that was when it was cemented where he was going from then on.  </p><p>            Felix had been the weird fish boy at school who always wanted to talk about fish and had a million shark and dolphin paraphernalia. His backpacks were shark themed all the way into high school, when he had switched to a key chain instead. But they lived on the beach and in someway everyone was the weird fish kid so Felix didn’t stick out too much. He had started to in middle school when he’d suddenly turned into the save the earth kid as well, but at that point Felix was competing in international surf competitions and winning so it didn’t matter, he was allowed to be weird and the earth club was glad to have him join them. In his first year of middle school there was a kid that was on exchange program from Korea that had lived in LA for a few years so his English was accented with an American accent and the rest of the kids would ask him to talk just to listen to the combination of his Korean accent and his American accent. He had been the first person in years that had asked Felix about the different bracelets and t-shirts he wore that were from groups supporting environment friendly movements and saving wildlife around the world. Seungmin had been genuinely interested and excited about it and had been eager to go to the beach with Felix in the early mornings if Felix would teach him to surf. They came to school soaking wet every morning and the teachers would sigh and tell them to try not to drip all over everything. Seungmin had quickly become his closest friend and learned the names of the fish when he went with Felix to the aquarium. He had also become Felix’s camera man for his social media accounts and joined in. Felix loved social media, it meant that he could be connected to groups of people that were like him world wide and it was amazing. Still it had surprised him to see a user with a name that was definitely Korean pop up on his account and he had nagged Seungmin into translating for him. It was a boy named Jisung who lived in Korea but was in Malaysia for school and apparently he was involved in more groups than Felix was. With Seungmin acting as translator and teacher Felix started talking to Jisung and before long Jisung was Felix’s best friend. By the time Seungmin had moved back to Korea until high school, promising to keep in touch, Felix had enough knowledge of Korean to have no trouble reading through Jisung’s posts.</p><p>            The summer before high school had been the best summer of his life because Jisung had managed to convince his parents to let him spend the summer in Sydney before going back to Korea for school. Felix treasured every moment of that summer and definitely still had the house plants and the stuffed animals that Jisung had helped name. High school meant Seungmin’s return and the two of them got jobs working life guarding different places, and during the summer they volunteered at the aquarium when Felix wasn’t surfing. His surfing career had taken off, putting Felix as one of the best international surfers in the world and he didn’t love it like he used to, but he never wanted to leave it. It’s easy to start hating what you love when it becomes work. His days were full of Seungmin, the beach, surfing, and the aquarium, and every minute of Jisung’s day being told to him when they talked at night. Felix was almost always on the beach when Jisung called and it felt right, two things he loved as close as he could get them for the time being.</p><p>            Felix didn’t know when he fell in love with his best friend, it had just happened. He’d realized it when he had been with Seungmin wandering through some of the little shops on the beach front and had picked up a necklace.</p><p>            “That’s fun, Jisung would like it yeah?” asked Seungmin looking at it and Felix had nodded. That had been why he had picked it up.</p><p>            “Yeah, I’ll mail it to him,” he had said and pulled Seungmin over to the counter to pay. Walking out of the store with the necklace in his pocket and the warm air on their skin, hair still wet from the ocean it had hit him.</p><p>            “Shit,” he said stopping short and Seungmin had looked at him.</p><p>            “What?” he asked, “something wrong?”</p><p>            “I love Jisung,” said Felix. Seungmin did not look at all surprised.</p><p>            “Yeah? Just now realizing that, bro? You’ve loved Jisung since before he spent the summer with you in middle school,” said Seungmin nodding. “You’re that oblivious.”</p><p>            “Does he love me?” asked Felix.</p><p>            “Oh for sure,” said Seungmin nodding, “you should really talk about it.”</p><p>            “It would never work,” said Felix knowing it was true. He knew Jisung better than anyone and Jisung knew him too. They were both the kind of people that needed their people in arms’ reach, it would drive them crazy to be dating and never able to hold the other. Felix wasn’t leaving Sydney, wouldn’t leave his beach, his aquarium, and his babies. And Jisung’s best friend was in Seoul, Jisung’s best friend who had been on the verge of falling apart for almost a year now, and he meant the world to Jisung the way Seungmin did to Felix and the ocean meant to the shore, Jisung wouldn’t be leaving Seoul as long as Minho was there.</p><p>            “You should still talk to him,” said Seungmin, “it might one day.” Seungmin had always been surprisingly wise for his age. It was annoying when it wasn’t so helpful.</p><p>            “I’ll talk to him,” said Felix nodding and he did that night over the phone. It was easy. It should have been surprising but it was Jisung and Felix had never had any problems talking to Jisung about anything. He was the beach to Felix’s ocean, the high tide to Felix’s low tide, he wasn’t his other half. Felix didn’t believe in two halves of a whole for couples, everyone was whole and complete on their own, but the beat of Jisung’s heart marched in harmony with the one in Felix’s and Felix knew that nothing would ever compare to what the two of them were to each other. Even when they were only friends, Jisung was his person and he was Jisung’s. It was just what it was. It was a universal truth, gravity existed, the ocean was salty, Felix loved Jisung, and Jisung loved Felix.</p><p>            High school graduation had come with many changes to their lives. Seungmin’s family moved back to Korea, Felix’s family decided they were moving away from Sydney, and Felix and Seungmin opted to dorm together on campus at Sydney University. It had been Seungmin that had asked if Jisung had thought about doing college in Sydney and the night of graduation Felix had just known it wouldn’t happen. He could feel it in his bones. He had been right, Jisung wasn’t coming, Jisung sounded sad and worried and Felix did everything he could to make Jisung happy by the time they hung up that night. Starting college had been great. Felix loved it, and it didn’t matter at all that his family moved officially right after school started and he was on his own in Sydney for the first time ever. His first class for his major was that fall and a cheerful if nervous looking boy had claimed him as his study partner right away, introducing himself as Chenle. They were fast friends and Chenle, who spoke three languages and was an international student from China, had been thrilled to learn that Felix spoke enough Korean to have a full conversation. Chenle’s roommate was an international student from Korea named Jisung and he was a great guy and Felix liked him. It had quickly become a joke in their friend group of whose Jisung a conversation was about, Felix’s Jisung or Chenle’s Jisung. Chenle’s Jisung thought it was great, when he’d met their friend Beomgyu the first time and Beomgyu had looked between Felix and Jisung surprised and confused and promptly asked if he was Chenle’s Jisung or Felix’s here visiting, he’d laughed and started introducing himself as Chenle’s Jisung to new people in their group. Chenle’s friendship with Jisung and Jisung’s friends had been how Felix and he found out about summer internships at the aquarium and had applied thinking they wouldn’t get it. To their surprise they had and by the time the summer was over they had been offered full time paid internships to work with the aquarium. Felix was working his dream job, his friends were happy, surfing was great, and life was good, or as good as it could be without Jisung. The start of their second year had began with Beomgyu introducing them to his roommate Kai and with Seungmin dragging a nervous looking boy with braces and a distinctly fox look to their table and telling Felix that this was Jeongin and Jeongin was theirs now. Jeongin clicked easily in their friend group, the way that Seungmin had fit together with Felix like two pieces of a bigger puzzle. The two of them were also very obviously crushing hard on the other though both refused to do anything about it.</p><p>            Being friends with Jeongin inevitably meant being introduced to his roommate and according to him the best person in the world. Seungmin had spent many nights complaining to Felix that he would never have a chance because Jeongin clearly loved Chan. And then they had met him one afternoon at the store he ran and Chan had cheerfully greeted them both and taken one look at their soaked forms and wet hair and asked if they’d eaten since coming back from the beach. Chan was busy, much too busy, but he always had time for them and had listened to both Jeongin and Seungmin on separate occasions rant about the other and had joked with Felix about their stupidity over it. He paid for snacks for them and always made sure they were eating. He was nonjudgmental and always willing to go anywhere with them and was one of the most supportive encouraging people that Felix had ever met. Within weeks of meeting Chan Jeongin had ranted about how much he hated Chan’s boyfriend enough times that Felix had stopped counting. Seungmin had wondered if it was jealousy at first and then upon meeting Chan both had agreed that couldn’t be it. Jeongin didn’t hate anyone as much as he seemed to hate Chan’s boyfriend. It wasn’t until the next summer though that it made any sense why and Jeongin had called them and they had come over to find Chan’s face bruised to hell, looking like he was miserable and not sure what to do with himself anymore. The phone call with Jisung that night had been eventful both of them falling towards each other needing the other because of two very different events in their lives. Felix had never really been a romantic, but he had also believed in love his whole life, believed in the power of true love and all the Disney stuff. Watching the aftermath of Chan’s relationship had pulled that rug out from under him quickly. He didn’t want to ever have to watch anyone else he loved go through something like that again.</p><p>            But it had changed them all in ways that weren’t really obvious at first. They got closer to Chan quickly, and Felix was so happy that it seemed like maybe the oldest of their group was finally going to start letting people in. But it had hurt to realize how little Chan thought of himself and how little he thought the world thought of him so Felix had gone out of his way from then on to make sure that the people he cared about knew what they meant to him, so that no one would ever spend so many years thinking they were unlovable. Chan was like Felix in a lot of ways. In all the ways that Felix felt counted the most. He loved animals, he was passionate about nature, he loved music and dancing and running wild with his friends, and most importantly he loved the ocean. It was as much a part of Chan as it was Felix, and Felix was beyond happy to have someone to share that with, to have someone that truly understood. They were different too, the most significant being that while Felix was an incredible surfer he had forgotten how to love it. Surfing with Chan became a regular routine that summer and then every following summer when they could manage it and Chan taught Felix how to love his sport again. Chan made Felix remember what it was like to truly love chasing wave after wave and enjoying that sense of utter freedom. Chan was also the one that ended up talking to Felix about his views on love. It had been Chan that reminded Felix that there was a reason that the Disney type of love was out there. Chan had been the one to ask him why he’d actively avoided romantic situations for almost two years, and had been the one to talk it out.</p><p>            “You shouldn’t have to be having this conversation with me, hyung,” said Felix from where he was sat in the sand shoulder to shoulder with Chan, their surf boards scattered behind them and the two of them watching the sunsetting over the water.</p><p>            “Why not? Someone needs to,” said Chan shrugging, “you’re closing yourself off. We’re worried.”</p><p>            “I shouldn’t be reacting like this. It doesn’t affect me,” said Felix shaking his head, “it’s not my life it shouldn’t matter like this.”</p><p>            “But it does,” said Chan, “and it’s okay that it does. Yeah, it’s not your life and it’s not really your job to decide how bad it was or really even what happened beyond what I tell you happened. It’s my life. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t affect you too. One of your close friends was hurt in a way that you didn’t think could ever happen like that. It’s okay to be worried about it, to be worried that I’m going to get hurt again that you’ll get hurt, and it’s okay to be cautious. But you’re closing yourself off completely, and that’s hurting you.”</p><p>            “What if I decide love doesn’t exist?” asked Felix and Chan had laughed at him.</p><p>            “Then you’re talking to the wrong friend and need to make a call to Seoul to tell your other half that he doesn’t exist in your version of the world anymore,” said Chan and Felix couldn’t help the smile that always came when he thought about Jisung.</p><p>            “You believe in love,” said Chan nodding, “you just don’t want to right now. It’s hard to reconcile the two things, yeah?”</p><p>            “How’d you do it? It had to be really awful,” said Felix quietly. “Because I’m not going through that. Sure, it affected me, like you’re saying, but it’s not me that got hurt.”</p><p>            “Yeah, it sucked. It sucks,” said Chan nodding, “that’s why I’m talking to a therapist, remember? And there’s just stuff that you have to acknowledge exists, happened, and then let it go. Sometimes there’s not a reason, there’s not an explanation, there’s no way too make it make sense. It’s hard. I’m not really there yet I don’t think, but I’m getting there. Yeah, people suck, but there’s good out there, Lix. Jisung’s worried you know? He talked to Seungmin who talked to me. That’s why we’re having this conversation. He’s worried about you. About how you’ve dealt with your own emotions since then. Don’t close yourself off.”</p><p>            “Do you believe in soulmates?” asked Felix and Chan hesitated.</p><p>            “I didn’t,” he said, “when I was younger, all the way through my relationship actually. I believed in love, but in soulmates? Not really. But then meeting you. Yeah, I think I believe in soulmates, because that’s the only way to explain you and Jisung.” Felix smiled.</p><p>            “And he’s not my other half, hyung,” said Felix, “you make music, yeah? It’s two souls harmonizing together, I’m not half a song without him and you aren’t half a song either.” Chan beamed at him and then rubbed sand into his hair effectively killing the heart to heart and resulting in the two of them yelling and wrestling and covering each other in sand.</p><p>            A year later Jisung calls Felix in the middle of the night. And it’s Jisung so of course Felix picks up. The conversation is short and Felix sets an alarm for the next morning. He’s jittery at the prospect of getting to see Jisung again and wakes long before his alarm. Which resulted in Felix and Seungmin surfing that morning and then almost being late to picking Jisung and Minho up from the airport. Felix is aware that they both smell of salt and sand and sunscreen as he stands on the passenger seat holding onto the uncovered top of the Jeep, scanning the crowd for Jisung.</p><p>            “How much do you think he’s changed?” asked Seungmin from where he was sitting in the driver’s seat, his own red hair equally wet and messy to Felix’s orange.</p><p>            “Older but otherwise not at all,” said Felix, “he wants to meet my fish, Seungmin.” And Seungmin laughs.</p><p>            “You two are made for each other,” he stated and Felix beamed.</p><p>            “How’s Minho doing?” asked Seungmin.</p><p>            “Not good, it’s why they’re here. No mentioning the ex or the relationship or modelling if possible,” said Felix nodding and Seungmin nodded.</p><p>            “Can do,” said Seungmin, “what happened?”</p><p>            “She’s been cheating on him this whole time and drug him through the mud very publicly,” said Felix, “really nasty thing to do to a person and Minho-hyung’s so nice.”</p><p>            “You don’t know him,” said Seungmin.</p><p>            “Yeah, but Jisung says he’s the best and Jisung would know,” said Felix and then he’d spotted him through the crowd and was waving excitedly and screaming his name, uncaring about the way people started staring. Jisung was in Sydney and the world was finally at rights.</p><p> </p><p>            Having Jisung in Sydney again was a dream come true and Felix cherished every memory. He slotted into Felix’s life like he belonged and Felix was happier than he had ever been. Every day spent at the aquarium, every early morning shaking him awake when he and Seungmin and Minho got back from the beach, every bad joke and impromptu karaoke session was a moment he would love for the rest of eternity. Late nights sitting in the sand talking under the stars, the waves crashing at their feet were perfect. Jisung was the only person in the world that got Felix the way he did. There wasn’t ever confusion about what the other meant when they talked. Jisung was the only person Felix had no hesitation of being completely open with. Even Felix’s friends from the aquarium loved him. Chenle’s hyungs had cheerfully answered the thousand or so questions Jisung had for them and agreed happily to be in his pictures and videos. Felix, Chenle, and Beomgyu had all excitedly let him video them walking through the aquarium for the video the wildlife magazine attached to the museum had asked him to do.</p><p>            Every coffee date with friends was an important memory, every day spent at the beach, at SKZ, or just doing nothing was worth more than Felix’s weight in gold. Maybe one day they would be in the same place at the same time and could actually be together. But for two months life was perfect. He had Jisung. Chan was happier than Felix had ever seen him. And Minho had started laughing again. All was well with the world, and Felix hated that it was coming to an end. One of Felix’s favorite memories was of the whole group of them after they spent a couple hours at the club. Everyone still looking ready for a night on the town, but barefoot and sitting on the back porch of Chan and Jeongin’s house, accessories and over shirts from the night scattered around them, the world beyond them quiet and their bubble of wild laughter not even beginning to penetrate the peace of the night beyond their porch. Seungmin and Jeongin content to curl around each other where they sat, quietly exchanging the cheesiest compliments they could think of in a scatterbrained combination of English and Korean, Chan sat across from them leaned against Minho’s shoulder laughing freely at him and Jisung, Minho finally looking at peace watching their group smiling widely and dropping his head to rest on top of Chan’s curls, and Jisung next to him where he was supposed to be. Coughing and whining when he couldn’t smoke and letting Felix teach him how to do it without feeling like he was dying. Life was perfect and Felix was going to miss this so much.</p><p>            “<em>You look like broccoli,</em> yum,” announced Jeongin dragging Felix’s attention away from the boy at his side to look at the youngest two and then the oldest two all of them falling into riotous laughter, Chan pretending to be properly offended only to end up laughing and agreeing. Felix wished nights like this could last forever.</p><p> </p><p>            Jisung and Minho going back to Korea was the hard. Both had insisted they not be driven to the airport so they had all said their goodbyes. Felix took his surfboard out that morning after the two of them left for the airport and paddled out far into the water, just sitting there in the quiet for some time, watching the horizon. An airplane cut across the sky far above him, it wasn’t Jisung and Minho’s, it was going the wrong direction to be Jisung and Minho’s, but Felix still found himself wiping away tears. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that Jisung wasn’t allowed to be happy, that they couldn’t be here, that they were never in the same place for very long. He could swear he could feel his soul tearing in two as Jisung flew ever further away from him. Why did it always feel like happiness was just barely slipping through his fingers, like ever shifting grains of sand. He found himself on Chan’s couch that night. Seungmin and Jeongin had gone out on a date, partly to distract themselves from missing their friends, and partly because they knew Felix almost as well as Jisung, almost as well as Felix himself, and knew when he needed to have a heart to heart with their oldest brother, the one that had been the most support the three of them had ever had in anyone. Chan never pushed him. He knew Felix would talk when he was ready, he just made tea and waited for Felix to be ready in silence, or as close to silence as Chan got, which mean the was humming softly to himself. It was probably a song he was working on, since he never seemed to stop working. Felix felt like a mess, like his thoughts were scattered, leaves in the wind, seagulls taking off into the sunset, waves crashing against the shore. Once he’d managed to harness them though they didn’t stop.</p><p>            “Why don’t the things that would make us happiest ever work out?” That hadn’t been what he meant to ask. Chan couldn’t fix that. He couldn’t answer that. How was questioning that helping either of them. He still ended up with Chan pulling him into his arms and hugging him tightly. It felt good, safe, like maybe things could be okay again.</p><p>            “Oh, Lix. I don’t know. I wish I had answers for you, but I don’t know.”</p><p>            “I should be happy. I have a job I love, I have surfing, I have friends and a place I can call home that I love more than anything. Why do I hurt so much? Why can’t I be happy? Why am I not happy? He’s happy in Seoul. I can’t ask him to leave that and I can’t ask him to consider me. We both know the distance wouldn’t work. We’re both clingy people we need to be near each other. Why can’t I be happy?” Felix wasn’t sure when he had started crying. He was so tired of crying, but Chan was just carefully wiping away the tears, always looking out for him. For Jeongin and Seungmin, always the older brother ready to be there for anything they needed. Felix wasn’t sure what any of them had done to have someone like Chan in their lives but he would be thankful for the rest of his life for him.</p><p>            “You love him,” said Chan quietly which was a universal truth, “and it hurts because sometimes love hurts. It hurts when we can’t hold them and tell them and see them every morning. It hurts when it’s not everything we thought it would be or should be and it hurts to let it go. I don’t know why sometimes what would make us the happiest is just out of reach, I wish I could tell you. I wish I could fix it.” That made sense. It made sense in a painful, aching way, and Felix wished it didn’t. Wished that neither of them had ever had to know love that hurt, Chan especially. If anyone deserved to be loved infinitely and in all the best ways possible it was Chan.</p><p>            “What am I supposed to do?” whispered Felix finally managing to ask what he had really been trying to ask all along. How was he supposed to keep going now?</p><p>            “Cry,” said Chan, “love him and eventually learn to let go.”</p><p>            “But it hurts,” said Felix, he didn’t want to let go and he really wanted to stop crying.</p><p>            “I know. That’s why you cry and then you surf too,” said Chan nodding, “surfing helps.” Felix laughed wetly. It was such a Chan thing to say. Everything returned to the ocean some way or another and he was usually right too. It was a familiar constant in life, something that always was and always would be no matter what else they went through. There was always the ocean.</p><p>            “You believe the ocean fixes everything, hyung,” said Felix and Chan smiled.</p><p>            “Yeah, I guess I do,” he said, “it’s part of me and it’s part of you too. You wouldn’t surf the way you do if it wasn’t. So, when we hurt it’s a safety net and a hug and everything that makes the world right. When I feel lost again it’s the first thing I put back because I’m not me if I’m not in the water.” Felix wiped at his eyes again.</p><p>            “Okay,” said Felix nodding. Chan was right, of course he was right, the ocean would help. But the last thing he wanted to do right now was be alone. “Surf with me, hyung? I don’t want to be alone.”</p><p>            “Of course,” said Chan nodding and standing up, pulling Felix to his feet with him. “I’ll never leave you alone, Lix.” Felix hugged him tightly, burying his face into his shoulder. Chan was right about most things, but he was wrong about the ocean being Felix’s home. Chan was home. Seungmin and Jeongin were home. Jisung and Minho and Chenle and Beomgyu and Jackson and all the others that were the people that Felix cared about in the world. The ones that made the world worth living in. In Felix’s opinion there was no point to the world if there weren’t people you loved in it, even when it hurt. But damn did it hurt right now.</p><p> </p><p>            Life slowly moved back into a comfortable routine. He talked to Jisung every day again, Minho was happy, school was going well, he and Chenle spent almost all their time at the aquarium and if he wasn’t there he was on the beach with Seungmin, Jeongin, or Chan. Minho and Jisung made friends with Minho’s neighbors in Seoul, Felix and Jeongin dyed their hair together in August. Felix dyed his pink, washing the orange out and helped Jeongin dye his an auburn red so he matched Seungmin’s bright red hair. The youngest two were honestly adorable and Felix was glad that at least someone in their group was happy. A couple days after dying their hair Felix walked into the house to hear Seungmin screaming on the phone. He set his board against the door and stripped out of his wet shirt as he trudged salt water up the stairs.</p><p>            “Seungmin? You okay?” he called.</p><p>            “Chan-hyung’s in love!” yelled Seungmin and that set Felix running up the stairs and skidding into their kitchen.</p><p>            “What? Who? When?” demanded Felix.</p><p>            “Minho-hyung,” said Seungmin. “He’s in love with Minho-hyung.” Felix screamed and hugged Seungmin.</p><p>            “Is that Jeonginnie? We need to celebrate. We’re coming over right now, Innie!” yelled Felix into the phone. Jeongin’s response was positive and Felix was pretty sure he could hear Chan’s laughter on the other side of the phone.</p><p>            “Go find dry clothes, I’m sure hyung doesn’t want you tracking the ocean through his house,” said Seungmin shoving Felix off of him. Felix hurried to find dry clothes so they could get to Chan and Jeongin faster. This was good. It was good that Chan was in love. Even if it would hurt. Because Felix was in love and it hurt more than anything in the world, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything. This was good. Maybe someday life would be okay. Felix could hope, even if that was all he had, he could hope that someday they’d all end up in the same place and everything would fall together like puzzle pieces coming together. Like that moment you pop up on the surf board and you just know, you caught the perfect wave. Nothing in life compares, Felix hoped every time he caught a wave that it was one of those waves, and he couldn’t help but feel that love was a little like that. They just needed to keep paddling and catching waves until they finally caught the right one. The perfect wave was coming, it was just beyond the horizon, he could feel it in his bones.</p><p>            September passed without much fuss. They sent Jisung’s presents early so they would be there for his party. Hyunjin and Changbin had insisted on being part of the party but couldn’t be there on the actual day so they had done it a couple weeks early. Felix wished he could be there to take part in one of Jisung’s birthdays, eventually it would happen. He still called him on his actual birthday and then had been drug out by his friends after to celebrate his own, since they all knew he would spend his actual birthday with Seungmin, Jeongin, and Chan. He and Seungmin spent the night at Chan and Jeongin’s. He woke up to Jeongin curled into his side, Chan and Seungmin quietly singing together in the kitchen and the smell of coffee and ocean air. Jeongin sat up looking at him blearily when Felix shifted to sit up.</p><p>            “Happy Birthday, hyung,” he muttered dropping his head onto Felix’s shoulder before standing up and wandering into the kitchen to greet the other two. Felix followed quickly and got enthusiastic happy birthdays from Seungmin and Chan. Apparently the two of them had made pancakes and breakfast was a loud and chaotic affair and Felix wouldn’t have it any other way. He loved mornings like this with the four of them together and happy.</p><p>            “What’re we doing today?” asked Seungmin looking at Felix.</p><p>            “Aquarium,” said Jeongin already knowing the response.</p><p>            “Surfing,” said Chan knowing what was following.</p><p>            “Food, and then bonfire,” said Felix nodding finishing the list.</p><p>            “When do you want presents?” asked Chan.</p><p>            “Now I guess,” said Felix shrugging. “I don’t care that much, hyung.” Presents was just as chaotic an affair and then the four of them hurried to get dressed and ready for the day. Knocking sounded on the door as Felix helped clean up wrapping paper.</p><p>            “Innie, you want to get it?” asked Chan from the kitchen.</p><p>            “Yep,” agreed Jeongin already jumping to his feet and hurrying down the stairs. The door opened and Jeongin swore loudly.</p><p>            “<em>Holy fuck.</em>” The English was startling in and of itself the fact that the youngest was swearing loudly was worrisome, causing both Seungmin and Felix to stop what they were doing and look at each other and then the stairs. Seungmin moved to the stairs first, Chan not far behind and Felix bringing up the rear.</p><p>            “<em>Innie? You okay? You never swear,</em>” called Chan down the stairs.</p><p>            “<em>Oh my fucking fuck. Felix! Felix! You’ve gotta come here!</em>” Panic shot through Felix briefly, he didn’t even register that Jeongin sounded excited, just pushed past the other two in order to bolt down the stairs to make sure Jeongin was alright. He stopped dead at the foot of the stairs in shock when he saw who was at the door, hope blooming in his chest in a way it hadn’t in ages.</p><p>            “Jisung?” Jisung was stood on the door step, smiling brightly at Felix, looking just as hopeful as Felix felt. Like the sun had come to earth and was waiting for Felix specifically. There were suitcases next to him and a book in his hands that he held out to Felix. It looked like a scrapbook, which made sense considering Jisung never went anywhere without his camera.  </p><p>            “Happy Birthday,” he said. Felix screamed barreling into him, eager to hold him and know he was in his arms again, accidentally knocking Jisung onto his ass and landing them both in the sand. Felix could hold him for the rest of his life, this was right where he was supposed to be, irritating sand and all.</p><p>            “Holy shit! How’d you get here? I can’t believe you’re here! How long are you here for! This is the best gift ever. You can’t possibly top this,” said Felix not even fully registering the words tumbling out of his mouth as he sat back to look at Jisung. He wasn’t sure he had ever been happier in his life.</p><p>            “It gets better,” said Jisung. He was laughing and Jisung laughing was probably the most beautiful thing Felix had ever seen. If he was a poet he would write sonnets about Jisung laughing. But Felix wasn’t a poet so the memory of him in his arms laughing would have to do. Jisung’s laughter was like a cure all for when nothing was right, Jisung always made the world a better place.</p><p>            “How could it possibly get better?”</p><p>            “Chan-hyung’s giving me his loft,” said Jisung which made no sense in anyway. Why would Chan give Jisung his loft?</p><p>“Minho-hyung got me a job as a wildlife photographer for the Manly Marine and Wildlife Magazine. I’m not leaving.” Felix screamed again, incoherently he was sure but he couldn’t vocalize how happy he was. They were finally here. It was finally the moment everything worked out. The puzzle pieces were turned just right and fit together. The sky was blue, the wind was in his hair, his surf board was under him, he stood up and the perfect wave was upon them. He hugged Jisung again ready to never let him go and then turned to glare at Chan. The person that clearly had known about this and hadn’t told him.   </p><p>            “You knew?! You knew and you didn’t tell me?” This was grounds of absolute betrayal as far as he was concerned.</p><p>            “I had no idea he was showing up today,” said Chan shaking his head, “that was all Minho.”</p><p>            “Last minute birthday gift for both of us,” said Jisung nodding, “that’s what he told me.”</p><p>            “You’re really here to stay?” It was too good to be true, but Felix had never wanted to believe in anything more than he wanted to believe in this.</p><p>            “I’m really here to stay,” said Jisung nodding wiggling his arms free from where Felix had them trapped against his sides in a hug, so that Jisung could hug him back. He was really here to stay. The euphoria of everything coming together hit Felix like a truck and he was ready. It was beyond time for them to be allowed happiness.</p><p>            “Then I can do this?” he asked already reaching for Jisung’s face and pulling him closer. Jisung met him half way and they were kissing. Felix felt like laughing and crying and everything in between. There could be nothing better than this. Finally they were together, finally they were where they belonged. Finally they were home.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>there may or may not be a hyunjin and changbin fic, there may or may not be a seungmin and jeongin fic. at some point the txt one will be updated. there will be a short story domestic type fluffy fic with chan and minho because i've got an idea for that </p><p>the story in the beginning about felix and his cousin is actually based on an experience i had with one of my little cousins because i was trying to come up with a way to tie him to the aquarium and my brain just kept going...shark tunnel, cousin, that time you carried her through the aquarium answering as many questions about fish as you could</p><p>thank you for reading!!!!! i love you all and hope everyone is doing well!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you for reading!!! </p><p>this fic says it has two chapters because Felix's point of view will be chapter two once i get it written!<br/>since this is shorter than the Minho and Chan storyline i just put both point of views as two chapters here :)</p><p>the TXT one in this universe is still in progress i just don't really have a solid idea of where i want it to end which is making it slow to write, so there's that update. </p><p>it could be a while before i have time to write a lot again, because i'm taking a four week history class that looks like it's going to be hell. please send prayers and good vibes. i've got to pass this class in order to graduate on time -_-</p></blockquote></div></div>
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